Personal video recorders or, more simply, “PVRs” provide media streams to client media devices without reliance upon access to the Internet or other WANs. When WIFI-enabled, a PVR may provide such media streams over a personal LAN, such as an IEEE 802.11 WIFI wireless LAN, to allow communication over relatively short distances in the absence of a suitable WAN connection. PVRs may be particularly useful in providing media streams when a user is engaged in travel (e.g., via an airplane, car, or other mass carrier) and desires to select amongst large amounts of stored media content for offline viewing without reliance on an active WAN connection. An example of one such WIFI-enabled PVR is the HOPPERGO® device, which is commercially available from DISH NETWORK® of Englewood, Colo. Typically, such PVRs assume the form of network-enabled mass storage devices capable of interfacing with a host device to securely transfer and store media content (e.g., recorded TV programming, full length movies, or other such media content items) for later streaming to a client media device (e.g., a mobile phone, tablet, laptop, wearable device, or other device utilized to playback media content streams) over a personal LAN hosted by the PVR.